SUGGESTED FICTION, POETRY, DRAMA, NONFICTION, AND FILM
NOTE: The Literature Arts Medicine database maintained by NYU Langone Health features thought-provoking literature, together with commentaries on selected works. Notations marked Commentary on this page link to that database. See also WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THOUGHTFUL READING OF LITERATURE?
In addition, Georgetown University hosts an online course, Interacting with the Medical Humanities, that includes thoughtful discussions of poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and art.
Novels:
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The film version is here.
Michael Cunningham, The Hours. NYU Langone commentary
Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man. Documentary: Invisible Man: Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellison in Harlem
Louise Erdrich, The Round House. Interview with the author
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying. Excerpt read by the author
Kazuo Ishiguru, Never Let Me Go. Kazuo Ishiguru Nobel Prize acceptance speech
Leah Kaminsky, The Waiting Room. Danielle Offri interviews the author.
Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Interview with the author
George Orwell, 1984. 10 Songs Inspired by George Orwell’s 1984
Samuel Shem, The House of God. JAMA Network, The House of God (video)
David Small, Stitches (graphic novel — better in hard copy than ebook). NYU Langone commentary
Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian. NYU Langone commentary
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five. BBC4 Radio version
Short Stories:
Harlan Ellison, “‘Repent, Harlequin’ Said the Ticktockman.” Audio reading
William Faulkner, “The Bear.” William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery.” Film version
James Joyce, “A Painful Case.” Author biography and film clips
Franz Kafka, “A Hunger Artist.” Audio reading
Franz Kafka, “Metamorphosis.” Audio reading
Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” Audio reading
James Thurber, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Audio reading
Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilych.” Audio reading
Poetry:
Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” Read by the author
Lucille Clifton, “the death of fred clifton“
Lucille Clifton, “to my last period“
Countee Cullen, “Incident“
Emily Dickinson, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes“
Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for Death“
Emily Dickinson, “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers“
Emily Dickinson, “I felt a cleaving in my mind“
Emily Dickinson, “Pain has an element of blank“
David Gewanter, “My Father’s Autopsy“
Donald Hall, “Last Days“
Galway Kinnell, “St. Francis and the Sow” Read by the author
Galway Kinnell, “Wait” Read by the author
Sylvia Plath, “Daddy” Read by the author
Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus” Read by the author
Sylvia Plath, “The Surgeon at 2 A.M.” Read by the author
Mewlan Jalaluddin Rumi, “The Guest House” Audio reading
Drama:
Bertolt Brecht, Galileo. Video of the play
Athol Fugard, Master Harold . . . and the boys. Official trailer
Susan Glaspell, Trifles. Audio reading
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman. Documentary on Arthur Miller
Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie. Interview with Tennessee Williams
August Wilson, Fences. Official trailer
Nonfiction:
Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant (graphic memoir). NYU Langone commentary
Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking. NYU Langone commentary
Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. NYU Langone commentary
Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air. A Strange Relativity: Altered Time for a Surgeon-Turned-Patient, Paul Kalanithi
Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Cancer Vixen (graphic memoir). Interview with Marisa Achocella Marchetto
Anthologies:
Leah Kaminsky, ed., Writer, M.D.: The Best Contemporary Fiction and Nonfiction by Doctors
Susan Pories, ed., The Soul of a Doctor: Harvard Medical Students Face Life and Death
Film:
Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Commentary
